A conventional shopping cart has a one-piece or multi-piece chassis that is mounted to swivel casters and that typically supports at least a wire or polymer basket. One such conventional shopping cart design is illustrated in the U.S. Patent Publication US 2004/0084863 A1 published on May 6, 2004 by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. The chassis for that cart is fabricated from a plurality of tubular frame members.
The tubular frame members are conventionally formed from hollow, steel tubing, and the frame members are preferably and typically connected or joined together by welding.
Another shopping cart design has a chassis formed from a single length of tubing that is bent into the desired configuration.
The cost of the shopping cart is dependent upon, among other things, the amount of the steel that is used in the tubular frame member or members of the chassis. It would be desirable to provide an improved design for a shopping cart or a portions of shopping cart in which the amount of steel in one or more tubular frame members could be minimized, or at least reduced.
It would be particularly desirable to provide an improved design in which the wall thickness of a hollow tubular frame member could be reduced, at least over a portion or portions of the length of the tubular frame member.
Because shopping carts are typically subjected to various dynamic and static loads, including loads imposed by goods being carried, as well as by loads resulting from impacts, it would be advantageous to provide an improved design for a shopping cart chassis or portions thereof wherein the chassis could withstand the anticipated dynamic and static loads without failure or other damage.
Although it would be beneficial to provide an improved design for a shopping cart chassis (or portions thereof) that could be made from a tubular frame member having a reduced amount of steel or other structural material, it would also be desirable to provide such an improved design that can employ tubing that is of a conventional type which is readily available in the tubing market—rather than requiring special non-stock tubing.
The present invention provides an improved shopping cart chassis which can accommodate designs having the above-discussed benefits and features.